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Tajik peacekeepers to return from Kazakhstan mission on January 14, says President Tokayev

Tajikistan’s military personnel is currently stationed in Kazakhstan as part of the limited contingent of CSTO peacekeeping forces

DUSHANBE, January 13. /TASS/. The Tajik military staff that is part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan will withdraw on January 14, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan said in a telephone conversation with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.

The Kazakh president’s press service quotes the leader as saying: "After thanking Tajikistan for its support and assistance, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that the Republic of Tajikistan’s military personnel, currently stationed in Kazakhstan as part of the limited contingent of CSTO peacekeeping forces would return to Tajikistan on January 14 this year".

Tokayev informed Rahmon about the stabilization of the situation in the country and the beginning of the joint CSTO peacekeeping contingent’s exit from the country.

The parties also discussed certain aspects of their bilateral strategic partnership and prospects for further development.

Protests broke out in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots and attacks against police and military personnel, with government buildings getting ransacked in several cities a few days later. The ensuing violence left thousands of people injured, with fatalities also being reported. Subsequently, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) requesting assistance from the Russia-led bloc. As a result, peacekeepers were deployed to Kazakhstan. Law and order, Kazakh authorities affirm, was restored to all of the country’s regions by the morning of January 7.

At Wednesday’s meeting with CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas in Nur-Sultan, President Tokayev announced the end of the alliance’s peacekeeping operation. For his part, Zas said that the withdrawal of CSTO troops from the Central Asian state would begin on Thursday and would be completed within 10 days.